Monthly Archives: April 2016

“We go dim sum sometimes” was something that I heard frequently in Hong Kong in the 1960s. My mother-in-law, so did everybody else, would say this to anybody that had provided a favour or service, whether paid or unpaid. Though there was no intention to go dim sum with someone you hardly know, it carried the message that the favour or service would be returned sometime. What that translated to was that to get things done quickly, you would need to give out “tea money” or “lai see money” or to put it bluntly a bribe.

Corruption was part and parcel of life in the Colony in the 1960s and 1970s. Little could be achieved if you did not pay a bribe, small or big, depending on what were to be accomplished. Corruption had a long history in China since imperial days, so had in Hong Kong since its birth in 1841.

The Police Force, The Fire Fighters and The Health Department were the most corrupt public bodies. To get a fire safety certificate for your establishment you needed to bribe the fire department, for a sanitary certificate the health department and for security the police department

Paying a bribe was an open secret, there was even a system set up as to how the bribe was to be paid. For instance, the health inspector arrived at your establishment, hanged his jacket on a designated rack and went to the washroom. The establishment’s owner discreetly slided an envelope with money in a pocket of the jacket. The inspector came out of the washroom, put on his jacket and issued a compliance certificate.

As for the police, the constable on beat would collect the bribe individually from the street vendors, the small mom and pop shops, the restaurants and other businesses, legal or illegal, and handed the daily receipt to a designated officer at the precinct. Once a month or so, envelopes containing money were handed to individual participants, the higher the rank the more the payout. Participation was somewhat “mandatory”, lest you were quickly demoted and transferred to a remote border station in the New Territories.

Hong Kong Police 1960s

One of Hong Kong 1960s attraction was the hawkers who plied their trade on the pavements of busy roads. Here you could get, at a bargain, things that were used on a daily basis, from ladies stocking to hats, from underwear to overcoat, and fast food, from curried octopus to wanton noodles. This bustling trade was what made Hong Kong lively when the sun had set. Unlicensed hawking was illegal, yet the business thrived under the nose of the law enforcing police. It was hilarious that the police even staged mock up raids from time to time, so as to appear clean and straight, whence the hawkers would run with their carts down the street in panic, shouting “jau gwai” (run from the devils). One hawker summed up this trade as follows: “without hawkers, society is quiet and empty”

Hawkers plying their trade in Hong Kong. Find clothes, accessories and all.

Modern Food Hawkers in Hong Kong, not dissimilar to the 1960s

Then the Triads (Mafia) extracted money from the businesses, not paying meant trouble and disruption to the business. The Police stepped in and extracted more bribe in the name of protecting the businesses from the Triads. Triads also controlled illegal gambling and prostitution, and business would run normally if under the police protection. Other businesses were raided now and then until they came under the police umbrella.

“No Money No Water”, a sarcastic term used to poke fun at the firefighters. During a fire, the firefighters would be busy with all sorts of activities but dispensing water. Anxious property owners knew they had to negotiate to get the firefighters to open the hose. Then the reverse was also true, “No Money More Water”. This time the water kept flowing causing unnecessary further damage to property even after the fire was extinguished. Pay up to close the hose.

Fire Fighters 1960s Hong Kong

It was not that there were no apparatus in place to control bribery. There was the Hong Kong Police Anti Corruption Branch, established in 1952. However it was ineffective, as the Anti Corruption Branch became corrupt itself, extracting bribe from police under investigation. In the classic Golberg case, the Anti Corruption Branch was investigating Senior Police Officer Golberg for having huge sum of unexplained money in his bank account. Before he was charged, the Anti Corruption branch let Golberg to flee Hong Kong to the UK, though he was eventually extradited and convicted.

“Foh Kei” meaning “Colleague” was a powerful word used within the police force. With this word, the member of the police force and their family could get away with a lot of contravention such as illegal parking, speeding or even running illegal or unethical businesses. I had the opportunity to use this technique once, when ticketed for illegal parking. “We are foh kei” we told the ticketing officer and provided him with the name and rank of one of our detective relative. We were let go.

There were also routine corruptions such as a business corporation giving the manager of a bank an expensive Rolex watch so that he/she facilitated some business deals, or paying the public work department for insider information to land a contract, or paying a senior executive to get a lucrative promotion, or paying the personnel manager of a company to land a job. Even in the hospital “tea money” was systematically paid to the nurses to get an extra blanket for the sick, or to extend the visiting hours. The whole Asia was generally corrupt. I remember when we travelled to Thailand and Philippines, it was an advisable practice to have a banknote enclosed in your passport for the immigration officer to take, without which you might be subject to long baggage search and inconvenience.

Then everything changed in 1974 with the establishment of ICAC, the Independent Commission Against Corruption, and today Hong Kong is regarded as one of the most corrupt-free societies in the world. As we speak even the previous Chief Executive of Hong Kong could not get away from the claw of ICAC, he being brought to court for alleged corruption during his term of office.

Modern ICAC Hong Kong Headquarter, Over 1,200 employees

All these, however, pale in front of today’s corruption in China, the latest was a top former general in the Chinese military investigated for accepting bribe, estimated to be more than another earlier charged general’s accumulation of a tonne (in actual weight!) of banknotes found in his house. It was reported that in 2015 HK$245 billions of bribery money was channelled out of Guangdong in illegal money transfer. This is just the tip of the iceberg of corruption money in China

Ask any kid and even young adolescent in the developed countries if they know what “matches” look like, they would stare at you as if you come from an alien world. All they know is to turn on the switch on the electric range, or press the button on the microwave and the electric kettle. The closest to matches that they may have come across is the cigarette lighter, which dad uses for his cigarette or mom uses to light the candles on the birthday cake.

Yet matches were, and are still in less developed countries, a fundamental part of our lives when we were growing up in the 1950s Mauritius. Without matches we were as good as starved. Every kid then knew how to use matches and likely had naughtily played with them at every available occasion. It would terrify parents today if the children are to get their hand on them, if they do, half the neighbourhood would likely be on fire.

Typically matches come in a small rectangular box made of very thin layer of wood or cardboard. The match stick with its round iconic brownish or reddish head is struck against the sandy side of the matchbox, the friction sparks a fire that slowly burns the stick. As kids we often competed as who could hold the lighted matchstick longer to the very end. Burned fingers were common occurrences and were marks of bravery or stupidity depending on one’s view. It delighted us enormously to see the matchstick burn and contort into charcoal under the heat of the flame.

Matches An Essential During Our Time

Another version is the matchbook, a cardboard folder of matches with a striking surface on one side. Inside the folder are two to three layers of matchsticks, typically 20 to 30, to tear out and strike.

Matchbook Great Medium For Advertising Businesses

As kids, we also used to play with matches. It was a simple game. We threw a handful of matchsticks on the floor, each laying flat and not on top of another. Then with another stick, we would flip each stick so that it came to rest on top of another and we earned both sticks. If we missed, it was the other player’s turn, until all the sticks were accounted for. Simple game but fun and requires some brain work and skill.

Then we found use for the matchbox, as a protective head cover for our toothbrush or as a container to keep our new catch of “mouche jaune” (yellow bee).

Mouche Jaune (Yellow Bee) Our Prize Catch Which We Kept In Matchbox.

For a long time since the early 1900’s matches were a very popular, cheap and effective medium of advertising for businesses, be it a mom and pop store or a national corporation. Every hotel, restaurant and shop had their own matchbox or matchbook, with their name and logo prominently imprinted on them. They were free giveaway. The company that first developed advertising matchbooks called their matches the “20 Little Salesmen”. Some matchbooks had ingenious designs with the matchsticks taking the shape of the products being advertised, example the shape of a beer bottle or the shape of a sexy entertaining girl. Whenever I travelled I always tried to collect the matchbox to the extent that I had accumulated several hundreds. From time to time I would take them out and look at them, reminiscent of the places that I had been. When I moved from Hong Kong to Canada I took them along, thereafter I realized how dangerous these matches could be when transported by air and even when kept at home. I consequently disposed of them.

Matchbox Collection A Great Way To Reminiscent Your Past

Matchbook With Ingenious Design

In 1971, I was sent to Outward Bound School in Hong Kong by my employer for personal development. One of the programmes required that every participant spent two nights and three days on one of the many islands of the beautiful Sai Kung Peninsula. We were left there alone “solo”, each one on a separate island, with a limited supply of canned food and rice and a matchbox containing only a few matchsticks. If the weather was great it would be a delight to light a small fire and cook and enjoy the food in the tranquility of the place. Unfortunately it was pouring wet and my matchbox was dampened and became useless, leaving me eating cold food. That was how important a matchstick could be.

Sai Kung Peninsula Hong Kong

The gas cigarette lighter ultimately replaced the matchbox and as Companies competed for the lighter market we saw a variety of shape and style lighters, solid gold and diamond studded or just plain disposable plastic casing, ranging from a couple of dollars to thousand of dollars apiece. During the heyday when smoking was “cool”, cigarette lighter became a fashion, a trend, just like jewellery, and every smoker, gentlemen and ladies, carried one in their pocket or purse. People were judged by the lighter they carried and every one tried to own one of the famous brand lighters such as Ronson, Dunhill and Dupont. Dupont lighter was a favourite because of its famous crystal clear ring when the lighter cap was opened. Many heads did turn with each ring.

Disposable Gas Cigarette Lighter

Every One Wants This Iconic Dupont Lighter With Its Famous Crystal Clear Ring